through a program on health care that democrats and some republicans have been promising this country for generations and have it delivered. he has. and that's hardball for now, thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, we have a strong lineup of news tonight on all in. president obama looks like he's ready for a fight. that's a good thing, because he's fighting to raise the minimum wage. if there was a single economic fight we need to win. that's the one. coming up. >> also tonight, you've got to fight and then you've got flight. the heat is on republican congressman steve king after his hideous statements about mexican immigrants this week. he will be my guest tonight. you're going to want to hear what king said to him. plus, a precious rare surprising

moment on the floor of the united states house of representatives, wherein i watched a c-span live feed and thought, this is what government should look like. i'll bring that to you shortly. tonight we go to galesburg illinois where president obama kicked off his own summer tour of sorts. he gave not one, but two speeches on the economy, beginning with a series of events planned across the country this summer, focusing on how to support an embattled middle class. making clear that he's a man with much less to lose. >> i have now run my last campaign. i do not intend to wait until the next campaign or the next president before tackling the issues that matter. i care about one thing and one thing only. and that's how to use every minute. the only thing i care about is how to use every minute of the remaining 1,276 days of my term

to make this country work for working americans again. >> the president did his best to convince the country that moving forward, he would be focused squarely on the economy, as the effects of the republican reported sequester, continued to hurt everyone from pentagon employees to public defenders. congressional republicans are steaming yet again to use the next debt ceiling vote as a negotiating tactic to hold the country hostage in exchange for more austerity. with that as a backdrop, the president laid out his vision of a middle class economy. one that is quite honestly very, very far from the economy we have now. and one that by sheer virtue of existing puts the president in stark contrast with republicans. >> if they've got a better idea to bring down college costs that we haven't thought of, let's hear them, i'm ready to go. if they have a better plan to make sure that every american knows the security of affordable health care, please share it with the class.

raise your hand. what you can't do is just manufacture another crisis because you think it might be good politics. just as our economy is getting some traction. what you can't do is shut down our government just because i'm for opening the government. >> joining me now is gene spurling, director of the economic council and assistant to the president for economic policy. my first question to you is, why this speech now? what was new today, why is the president giving the speech now. >> the president was clearly trying to refocus washington on what we are here for. in other words, what is the end, the goal of economic policy. what's the northstar. for this president, it's one thing. it's growing the economy in a way that strengthens the middle class and makes it more inclusive for people who want to work their way up.

and what he -- what you heard him just say there is that right now we're more focused, particularly house republicans are more focused on manufactured crisis, manufactured budget battles than actually focusing on the building of a secure middle class what a life would be like, such as college affordability. >> why is it, gene, that you have to consistently refocus washington's attention on something as simple, straightforward and politically popular and important as just basic jobs. there are a lot of people out of work, what is it about washington that it cannot stay focused on that. >> you know, that's a great question. and it is a disappointment, but we can't just be disappointed with it, we have to take action. and the fact is, the president has been able to do significant things in bringing our country back from the brink of depression to the scene of recovery, passing historic health care reform. but the president doesn't want to just bring the economy back to where it was.

he wants to bring it back better, and what he was talking about tonight was a longer term trend that too much of the growth we've seen has not strengthened the middle class. we've even seen some hollowing out and weakening of the middle class, while the gains were going to the top. >> you have that sound, i want to -- let me play that sound actually. that's an important part of the speech. this is him talking about inequality in the wake of the great recession. take a listen. >> even though our businesses are creating new jobs nearly all the income gains of the past ten years have continued to flow to the top 1%. the average ceo has gotten a raise of nearly 40% since 2009. the average american earns less than he or she did in 1999. >> given that we're in the fifth year of the president's term, why is that not a condemnation of his own economic record? >> as we know, this president entered office at a time we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. we were contracting by almost 8%

in the six months in which he was coming into office. the last quarter of 2008, first quarter of 2009. this president had to move with boldness, swiftness and force to bring us back to growth, to now having more jobs created in the first six months than any first half of the year since 1999. more manufacturing jobs created in over 20 -- since the late 1990s. so we have seen a lot of progress. and we have seen positive things in the economy. but what the president is saying is that the improvement and healing we've seen, it's not good enough, it's not good enough in terms of growth and jobs. he also is addressing the more structural issues. like, for example -- >> one of the things -- >> wait just one second. key economic issue for people in the middle class is health care. >> yes, and we heard always before, that was a distraction. but not for middle class families, it is a key part of -- >> there was an amazing moment

today where someone responded in the crowd when the president was talking about health care, they said, my daughter has health care now. in terms of cyclical issues, where we are in the recovery right now. we have the deficit falling at a record rate. i've been confused on whether the white house thinks that's a good thing or a bad thing. is it good the deficit's falling or is the fact the deficit is falling largely because of austerity opposed to full employment and recovery? >> when we came into office, we had historic deficits. almost 10% of gdp over $10 trillion. it is good that we have brought the deficit down and are on the path to manageable deficits. however, it matters how you do it, and what the president's been for is a progrowth, projobs, promiddle class fiscal policy. that mines three things. yes, you have fiscal discipline, but you have it more in the long

term when your addressing our long term challenges. in the immediate term, you invest more in infrastructure, in fixing deferred marnt nens. and you, of course, make sure we have room to invest in things that matter. what the house republicans are doing is they turn all of that on its head. they do nothing with the sequester to deal with the long term. they freeze the investments we need in education and research that are critical to our future. and then at the same time, they do a contraction airy policy that the independent cvo believes is costing our economy 750,000 jobs. so -- >> gene, let me ask you this. >> you want a balanced progrowth, promiddle class policy. the republicans want just the opposite of that. >> the most single consequential decision the president will make probably for the duration of his second term is who he will appoint to replace ben bernanke. there's been rumors about janet

yellin who's currently on the board and larry somers who served with you in the white house. my question to you is, what is the president looking for. what's the most important thing for that candidate to have to make sure that we do not slip back into recession? >> those are excellent questions, and i don't blame you for asking them. but i hope you will understand that we don't talk or speculate on important personnel decisions that the president makes until he makes them. so i will let you talk with others about them. but i let the president speak first on the important appointments and decisions he has to make on the economy or otherwise. >> fair enough, gene spurling. pleasure to have you here tonight. >> when we return. steve king doesn't speak for them. that's not what millions of latinos are hearing. jose diaz will be with me in a moment. announcer: sunday's your last chance

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steve king refuses to eat those words, but it's absolutely killing the gop. i'll explain next.

i'm on a deadline, i will come back and talk to you. >> do you regret saying those words, sir? >> i'll talk to you about that later. okay? >> steve king trying his darnedest trying not to discuss the comments that were made into the u.s. illegally. viewers of this network know that king has a bit of a track

record when it am coulds to these kinds of things. he's compared latino immigrants to dogs and livestock. he's competed for the construction of a border fence, a wall covered on electrified barbed wire. we must assume he meant what he said last week, that is dreamers, children brought here by their parents. >> they aren't all valedictorians, they weren't all brought in by their parents. for everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another out there that weigh 130 pounds and have calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the border. john boehner called the comments wrong. there can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language. king for his part isn't backtracking, he appears undeterred by the criticism and told an iowa radio station today, the words he used came from the border patrol. >> this is not something i'm making up, we have people that are drug mules, hauling drugs across the border, you can tell by their physical characteristics what they've been doing for months, going through the desert with 75 pounds of drugs on their back. those who advocate for the dream act. if they choose to characterize this as valedictorians, we have a different image we need to be thinking about. >> do you want to bring a bunch of people with flabby calves into the country as well? the gop can try to spin this, they can condemn these remarks and claim steve king -- he is

the gop immigration id without the super ego, and the id continues to run the party on this issue. if you need further proof as benji points out, king basically got the entire gop caucus to vote for his deport the dreamers amendment last month. the gop can try to spin this, they can condemn these remarks and claim steve king -- he is the gop immigration id without the super ego, and the id

continues to run the party on this issue. if you need further proof as benji points out, king basically got the entire gop caucus to vote for his deport the dreamers amendment last month. that included eric cantor. the biggest problem for the gop is that even if steve king thinks he's dog whistling to conservatives, his bigoting is amplified statement. jose belart met up with the congressman today to ask him about his remarks. >> any comments, reaction to your comments that speaker boehner said? not very helpful? >> i'd say they were serious about that, they were not. i can't find anybody to make a logical argument that disagrees with me. >> i'd like to talk to you about that, do you have a chance?

>> joining me now is jose diaz, anchor for telemundo. is part of nbc universal. what you're going to get from republicans in the wake of this is the distancing rhetorically, my question to you is, how has this incident. how large does steve king loom in spanish language media that has been covering immigration much more thoroughly with much more attention than anglo media aspects. >> huge, because it's one insult after another. you can go around saying somebody else told you that these young people with calves the size of cantaloupes are coming through the country with drugs. and then somehow equate that with dreamers, and somehow equate the dream act or any attempt at including the dreamers with these drug mules.

somehow in some weird world, there is some relationship between that. i have been thinking about this, chris. if these numbers are correct, if for every good dreamer there are 100 drug mules coming, in and 36,000 -- 360,000 young dreamers have already been accepted by the deferred action, that would mean there would be 36 million drug dealers running wild in our streets. there's 50 million hispanics, so 75% of them are drug dealers, but with great calves. >> slim, 1340 pounds, fantastic calves, incredibly fit. here's the question. this is my understanding of the political problem the republican party finds itself in with respect to immigration. i covered that 2006, 2007 fight closely. and i listened to spanish language media and read spanish language media. everyone knew sensenbrenner's name, everyone.

when you would go to a rally, there would be hundreds of thousands of people who didn't speak english, worked in kitchens, and they knew the key players in the republican party who wanted to criminalize them. my question to you is, is the same happening to the gop right now when steve king says something like this? >> absolutely. absolutely. today on telemundo nightly news. we led with this story. and we had a gentleman in california who was a characterist. and he drew a charicature of steven king. he does know that there's somebody on capitol hill who calls some latinos dogs and says that a good percentage of these young kids that were brought here as children and whose parents every single day work here and contribute to this economy and to this culture, and to this country are being demonized. you know what?

unless something pretty big is done in response to this, it's all talk. but it's very hurtful and hateful. >> had is a ricky martin tweet i saw today, just randomly, ricky martin tweeting about this. don't worry, not every american is/thinks like steve king. >> and he has great calves. >> i have this rule on this show, we don't cover people saying something bad. that actions matter more than words. the reason i think there's an exception here is precisely because king got all of the republicans in the house to vote to deport these same people that he's calling drug mules just a month ago. so my question to you is, what can the republican leadership do to actually defintively rebuke steve king. to actually have a headline tomorrow night on telemundo, that is going to be good for them, that is going to convince people that they are not a party

of steve kings. >> here's the headline. the republican party supports comprehensive immigration reform, have the courage. have the calves to say that, come out and say, the gang of 7 that's been working for four years, try to get a bipartisan agreement. we want to bring this through. we want this, a vote on this, and we need everybody to be able to vote up or down on comprehensive immigration reform. let's not forget, chris. as we speak today, 1,000 deportations occurred. 1,000 others will occur. and every single day there are thousands of deportations. that has nothing to do with this event on capitol hill. unless something is done, all of this hateful talk will continue to weigh more maybe than the voices that are asking for immigration reform, that are working for immigration reform within the republican party and are doing so behind my back as we speak. >> pleasure to have you here, thank you so much. >> thank you. something happened on the floor of the u.s. houston the

that is honestly and truly the way congress is supposed to work. i'll show what you it was next.

something really rare and dramatic just happened on the house floor tonight. in just the last two hours, something that goes against the established rules and norms in the house of representatives. here's how things normally work,

being in charge matters a lot. it basically is everything. the leadership doesn't just influence how a vote goes down. the leadership decides whether a vote happens in the first place. if you were just a lowly house member, you don't get to present a bill or even an amendment to a bill and get a vote on it. your thing doesn't get a vote unless the leadership says it can happen. it doesn't get a vote. that's the way the houseworks. except apparently tonight, tonight things were different. tonight every member of the house was forced to take a position on a measure that leaders from both parties hoped would never see the light of day. a full house took a vote on the amendment to the defense spending bill, sponsored by republican amage and democrat conyers. it defines the stuff we first learns about in the edward snowden allegations. the call logs of every single verizon customer were being

turned over to the government. discontinuing that practice, it's an idea that a varitable who's who. the top three republicans in the house oppose the measure. the top republican and democrat of the senate intelligence committee released a joint statement calling it unwise. more than half a dozen house committee and subcommittee chairman sent out a letter urging their colleagues to vote against it. keith alexander was dispatched to the hill yesterday. james clapper the director of national intelligence today said the measure risked dismantling an important tool. the white house released a statement urging the house to reject it. that is what this amendment was up against, pretty much no one in the top washington power

bracket from either side of the political aisle wanted to be debating this thing. it's support was also bipartisan. the bipartisan coalition got their debate and their vote. opponents of this amendment will use the same tactic that every government in history has used to justify its violation of rights. fear, passing this amendment takes us back to september 10th. metadata sounds scary, it's nothing more than an excel spreadsheet with five columns. no administration should be permitted to operate above or beyond the law as they have dn in this respect. general warren's writs of assistance, that's what we're looking at. >> ben franklin said they who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. >> are we so small that we can only look at our facebook likes today in this chamber? or are we going to stand up and

find out how many lives we can save? >> get a specific warrant bases on probable cause or stay out of our lives. and that's the way it is. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> give it to them straight. the amendment to block the nsa's bulk collection of phone records failed. it failed by just 12 votes tonight. the simple fact that it got a vote is amazing. countless reasons to believe it would die and be buried without any kind of official debate, much less an official vote. if you're sitting at home trying to figure out where youen stand, allow me to give you this taste of where michele bachmann stands. >> the only people who have benefited from the revelation of classified information, by someone who worked for this government who intentionally and unauthorized declassified some of the most sensitive national security information that we have. the only result is that those who are engaged in islamic jihad will have been benefited. >> spoiler alert, that's the same side of the president of the united states.

joining me now is david seroda, salon.com contributor. my first question to you, david. as a house staffer for quite some time, how did this thing happen? it was unlike anything we've seen come out of this house. you had a floor debate. people standing up, and i couldn't predict when they stood up which side they were going to be on. and then the thing got a vote, and it almost passed. how did this happen? >> there's two reasons it happened. the first reason is, traditionally on appropriations bill, that is the annual spending bills there are narrow amendments that are allowed to be amended to those bills, which say, either block funding from something or transfer something in the bill or something else in the same bill. very narrow rules, it's hard to create a vote on a message on an issue on a big national question like this in such a narrow way. the people who put this bill together were skilled in the art of crafting such an amendment, and they created a crystal clear

vote on whether the congress, whether the house wants the nsa to be surveilling americans that are not under investigation. that's one way. the other way, that can still get blocked. you can still have the speaker use the rules committee to take a radical measure, radical step and say none of these amendments are allowed. it's a radical move in the house. what i think is encouraging about this, is not only the artistry in crafting such an amendment, there was a bipartisan kind of insurrection among rank and file members of congress against their own leadership, saying that america, the american public deserves an open debate on this, and the american public deserves to know where their members of congress stand on this. >> do you think, what do you think it indicates about the politics of it, because to me, at one level it's encouraging, and i thought actually, i thought the debate on the house that michele bachmann jihad mongering aside, was relevant. it was engaging on both sides of the possible drawbacks. what does it say to you where

the politics of this issue are where this happened tonight? >> the politics have broken completely apart. party labels don't really matter on an issue of civil liberties on an issue of the fourth amendment. that probably makes official washington quite scared. a lot of people in the building behind me right now are very nervous about the idea that we're going to see more votes like this, and this was a vote that was so close, with such lobbying force against it, you can imagine in the senate or again in the house a vote like this passing. and i think that will create a situation where more of these questions get asked. >> i thought it was very interesting, the partisan breakdown, in so far as the majority of democrats voted for this amendment, which is against what the white house wanted and the majority of republicans voted against it. and i think it's interesting because we talk about how topsy-turvy the politics of this get with civil liberties. the progressive base of the democratic party in the house is basically where you would think

they would be. where i personally would want them to be. >> yeah, i think that's right. and i think that that's encouraging in the sense that those democrats voted against their own president. and i think that's encouraging that we're seeing some distance between house members and the white house on an issue of civil liberties where you're seeing the house members and the democratic caucus stabbed on principle saying, we're not going to carry about party. we're going to vote on principle for liberties. of course, you had the house democratic leader nancy pelosi vote against this amendment, but i think again, you're seeing a trans partisan uprising in the house, and i think you're going to see some of it in the senate, and i think that makes the white house very nervous as it should, the white house has a lot of questions to answer on this. >> we'll be right back with click three. o angie's list to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare.

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a kfc worker burns her hands at work, returns to work, works 60 hours a week and still can't pay her bills. when she asked for a poultry

raise he said it can't be done. we begin at the bell center in montreal where an admiring crowd watched beyonce beyonce, until she was accosted by a crazy fan. this is world famous beyonce, getting her hair caught in a wind fan while performing the song "halo." if you need further proof why people love this woman. her hair is being held in the death grip of a machine, and yet she keeps on singing. ♪ >> she followed that up with changed lyrics. that's right, just brush it off. the day's long fiesta of storm

trooper costumes, where super fans of the human variety attend panels on tv shows. this guy clearly has a costume paying homage to the show's main character. he sat on stage with the panel and in a super twist, revealed he was no ordinary breaking bad groupie, but rather ryan cranston, wearing a mask of the guy he plays on tv. an absolutely surreal moment for the fans of the show, giving celebrities all over the world a lesson of how to hide in plain site. start taking notes, royal baby. there's a discussion about names. judging by cable news coverage.

one would think the president was discussing the new name of the littlest royal. there's another name to consider out there, carlos danger. the alleged alias anthony weiner used to send out pictures of his junk. the carlos danger name generator. one can type in their name and get a name to send out naughty pictures online. you can find the links for tonight's click three on our website. all-in with chris.com. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] so how long have you been living flake-free

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$50 savings card. call now! because no one who works full time in america should have to live in poverty, i'm going to keep making the case that we need to raise the minimum wage because it's lower right now than it was when ronald reagan took office. it's time for the minimum wage to go up. >> a single simplest way to get money into the pockets of the working class, is to raise the minimum wage, the president said as much in his speech earlier today. and hours before that speech polling was released that showed

18% of americans approved a joint proposal. democratic senator tom harkin of iowa, and george miller of california. to raise the national minimum wage to $10.10. now, raising the minimum wage is a theme barack obama has been sounding since 2007. most recently in the state of the union address in february, when we proposed boosting the minimum wage, restoring it in real terms to its 1979 level. which still isn't enough. using today's adjusted for inflation it would be 10.50 not 7.25. over the years, minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. which means today's workers aren't getting as much bang for their buck, if it hasn't kept up with inflation, the minimum wage hasn't really kept up with productivity, that is, how much value each worker produces for his or her boss per hour.

>> if we started in 1960 and we said that as productivity goes up, that is as workers are producing more, the minimum wage is going to go up the same. and if that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour. so my question mr. dubai with a minimum of $7.25 an hour, what happened to the other $14.75. it sure didn't go to the worker. >> and it should go to the worker. not just for the benefit of that worker, but in order to produce stable vibrant middle class economy. it is that simple, you want to start attacking inequality and post recession wage stag nation, then raise the wage. joining me now is senator bernie sanders, independent from vermont. he's the leader of the health and pensions committee. why can't we get a reasonable minimum wage. what is stopping us from getting a $10 minimum wage.

lay it out for me? >> let me tell you something, i don't want to break the bad news to you. a majority of the republicans are not only opposed to raising the minimum wage, a majority of the republicans right now, believe we should abolish the concept of the minimum wage, and if in a city like detroit or other high unemployment areas, you can get 3, 4, 5 bucks an hour, that would be acceptable to them. what you have is a raid against a lot of big money interests, a lot of republicans who do not believe in government regulation, which means a minimum wage. and that's the problem that we have. >> when you talk about big money, when you're trying and you've been trying, you've been working on this issue, i know you support this legislation. you've been working on raising the minimum wage. who is on the other side of the fight? this is an intensely lobbying bill in congress, when it does hatch. who is sitting across the table from the bernie sanders of the world saying, do not raise this, when that fight happens?

>> well, companies like walmart, the walmart family. here's an amazing story. the walmart family is the wealthiest family in this country, worth about $100 billion. owning more wealth than the bottom 40% of the american people. and yet here's the incredible fact. because their wages and benefits are so low. they are the major welfare recipients in america, because many, many of their workers depend on medicaid, depend on food stamps, depend on government subsidies for housing. if the minimum wage went up for walmart, would be a real cut in their profits. but it would be a real savings by the way for taxpayers, who are not having to subsidize walmart employees because of their low wages. >> what do you say to people that will look at this and say, this is cynical posturing, this is populism and if you do this, it's basic economics, you raise the wage, you constrain labor and end up putting people out of work?

>> i would say come to the great state of vermont. we have the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the country. i think it's 4.4%. we have the third highest minimum wage rate, not as high as it should be, but it's $8.60 an hour, i have not heard too many employers in the state of vermont that are telling me that the minimum wage is too high and should go lower. >> bernie sanders, independent senator for vermont, thank you so much. >> thank you. up next, we'll hear from a mother of three who has to live on $8 an hour. and a businessman who says raising the minimum wage will not only help her, but it will help his business. to make the c. to make the c. to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied

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having to pay your employees really hurts small business. i mean, look at our nation's forefathers, many arrived with nothing but the blouse on their back, but thanks to no minimum wage, they started a booming cotton industry.

>> we always hear from politicians and corporate spokespeople about the minimum wage. people who really should hear from are the ones it affects the most. small business owners and low wage workers. joining me now is vintage vinyl in st. louis. shanita simon toussaint a shift supervisor of a kfc in new york. great to have you all here. the argument we hear from the u.s. chamber of commerce whenever minimum wage is on the table is, you're going to destroy small business and you run a small business. and what do you make of that argument? >> the fact is, that small businesses in general pay higher wages anyway. we know about the relationship. our relationship with our employees is closer, and our employees relationship with the customers is closer, that's how you grow a business. at that meeting with president obama -- >> stop that for a second.

that's an interesting idea. why would you pay a higher wage than a mass employer like kfc? >> i'm an employer who's committed to the business, but also, feels like he has a stake, that the paycheck he takes home at the end of the week is worth working for, it supports his family. you were citing the statistics, if we were at the same minimum wage adjusted for inflation, we'd be at 10.74. the fact is 23% of americans are under that 1968 adjusted wage. we're making less than we were back then. those workers are -- >> shanita. you work just above minimum wage, right? >> irene thely got a promotion to $8 because i spoke out with the union backing me. i guess they want to shut me up so they gave me $8. >> it's not work zmg. >> it's not working, i have three kids and a husband.

he's doing his best to support our family, but it's just not helping. >> mcdonald's put up this graphic recently, it was a monthly budget. the idea was, look, you -- we understand you're not making a ton of money, but if you just are disciplined and real serious about doing this, and you plot it out and you pay this amount, you can make ends meet and you can save. is that a fair -- as someone who lives this? >> that is not fair, especially in new york city, that's not realistic at all. if the budget was true, they should follow their own budget. they wouldn't be spending so much money. i think if everyone has a budget, of course, it would be some kind of reality to following a budget and you know you have some kind of mind-set. with rent, with feeding kids, somebody got to go hungry, and it's the parents. >> does that happen? >> it does happen. sometimes i eat at work so my husband and my kids can eat.

or my husband will eat at work so me and the kids can do that. we shouldn't have to do that, we live with my mom, we shouldn't have to do that. we're both employed. >> how do you respond to the argument that a firm like kfc will make -- this is sure you can find someone like shanita and put her on television, but this is not representative of people who make minimum wage. the minimum wage is teenagers in supermarket jobs. if you take away that ladder, you're going to take away all these people that are just about to enter the labor market. and that's terrible. >> half of the minimum wage workers are over the age of 25. minimum wage workers today are more educated than ever. in 1979, one in five minimum wage workers had some college degree. today it's one out of three. that's the mantra, go get an education, you'll get a raise somehow. that's not true in this economy.

the economy we're in right now, is fundamentally a low wage economy. there are millions of shanita's around the country. and we know how to raise wages and keep business profit an at the same time. it's not something we haven't figured out. we have the tools to do this, and the social science scholarship for the last 20 years has shown that there are no negligible employment -- >> there's been this revolution that's happened in economics, where the old model just said, yeah, you raise the minimum wage and you're going to put people out of work. that's supply and demand, you put an artificial price on something, you create shortages, in this case, a shortage of labor. >> that was the theory, it wasn't imperically true, and we know that now. we have dozens of studies that show when you raise the minimum wage, it does not affect employment negatively, we have real world examples. the city of san francisco, the minimum wage in the city is 10.55. the sky didn't fall in san

francisco the last time i checked. san francisco had more job growth than the surrounding counties that did not increase wages. >> convince me -- you're saying, hey, look, i don't pay my workers minimum wage, i pay them above. convince me you're not making this argument, just to screw your cometers. you're looking across the street, best buy moved in, they're paying minimum wage. i want them to pay more, because i pay above minimum wage. >> i'm in an industry that all of my competitors are competing with best buy, with walmart, with people who are selling things for way cheaper than i can, and paying way less. what you get with an above minimum wage worker is a worker who's actually working for your business and for themselves. what walmart has are interchangeable pieces that they can throw away. what bothers me more about this, though, people like us are supporting those. in month month, our local state medicaid program laid out $4

million in the first quarter from walmart workers. and many, many millions more for target workers, for tyson chicken workers. for mcdonald's workers. small businesses are actually underwriting this ridiculously low wage. >> shanita, do you feel like there's a path forward for you right now? you are working very hard, your husband is working hard. is there a ladder up that you see? >> there is a ladder up, due to the union we're called fast food forward. new york community for change, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have a vice. it makes a difference when someone is behind me backing me saying, we're here to support you, speak up. this is wrong, this is illegal. things like cutting your check. i work 65 hours one week and i got paid 33 for one week and they split the hours various in four next weeks. >> they split it so you wouldn't

get the overtime rate? >> exactly. i used to have to choose between going to school and working. at the end of the day, it's either i get my education or i feed my kids. i have to decide to buy lunch or do i pay rent. we, as workers, we're working hard we work. all we ask to do is get paid, that's it. >> is it possible for someone like kfc, your employer, if you could talk to them and talk to the people in washington who are going to be looking over this vote, what would you say to them. >> if you were in my position, would you work for $8 an hour, doing all i do, mopping the floors, making sure customers are happy. they're still trying to wiggle their way out of paying me 50 hours a week. >> no one in congress ever hears that.

lou prince vintage final. thank you all very much. really appreciate it. that is all in for this evening, "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. thank you, chris. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. today is wednesday. in san diego, california, here is how the week has gone thus far. this was monday. >> i saw him place his hands where they did not belong on numerous women. i was placed in the filner head lock and moved around as a rag doll while he whispered sexual comments in my ear. mayor filner challenged me to give him one example of how his behavior toward me was improper. i pointed out that he had asked me to work without my underwear on. he had no comeback. he is not fit to be mayor of our great city. he is not fit to hold any public